"It's nothing official yet, but they've asked a bank to go and talk to possible buyers for Activision," said a source close to the Vivendi board.

Among those named to be in talks  Microsoft, Time Warner, Chinas Tencent and private-equity sources. While nothing official has begun as of yet, if the report is accurate it does indicate that Vivendi has at least put out feelers for what may be a future sale.

Game industry analyst Michael Pachter of Wedbush Morgan is not convinced that these are potential buyers. Speaking to GameSpot, Morgan stated:

"None of those make sense," he said. "TenCent is the only one actively acquiring, and they make much smaller acquisitions. Time Warner has never spent more than $150 million on game investments. Microsoft would lose a lot of value if Call of Duty was Xbox only. None of these are buyers."